Monday, November 28, 2005

I, Betsy, get the great honor of telling you all about our Thanksgiving this year. Some friends, named the Cochrums, invited us to their home for the traditonal Thanksgiving meal and fellowship. I made my grandmother's cornbread, enjoyed by all, and Ann had a full spread of all the usual fare. We dressed up for the occasion, and walked down the hill to the MRT (train) to make the 1:00 afternoon meeting time. We've walked that path hundreds of times and never had a problem, ever. I was behind Danny and taking my time when I suddenly felt something hard smack my left shoulder. I figured it was a seed pod from the overhanging trees. Boy was I wrong. I looked back to observe the telltale white of bird droppings. Of all the days this would be the one in which my walking path would intersect with the falling path of a much relieved bird. Good grief!! But it made our somewhat late entrance to the Cochrum home more humerous, that is for sure!! Luckily I put a towel around the cornbread container to keep it warm. I little knew that it was really for cleaning bird doo off my nice clothes. It made for a memorable Thanksgiving. The Cochrum kids had invited some Korean friends to share this American holiday with us. The two boys enjoyed the whole meal and Danny had a great time playing all sorts of games with the kids. Ann and I spent time talking with her husband, Ken, about the end times and the book of Joel we have been studying in our Bible study.

I had another appointment with my doctor today. The baby is quite healthy and growing well. The heartbeat sounds great and all seems well!! Praise God!!! We only have about 3 months left. It goes so fast!!!!

Danny speaking now:This weekend was also the finals for our basketball teams. We were excited to have two of the three teams reach the championship game. The girls team and the U16 boys team both were able to play on Saturday. The boys played first against the German International School. The game started out tough, but in the second quarter our boys shot 73% (only missing 3 shots) and blew the game open. The final score was 63-32. The girls game followed and was a much closer game, but through a good defensive game, the girls were also able to win the game and the school's first championship! It was a fun time for all involved!

Monday, November 21, 2005

The season of Thanksgiving comes again! Thank you all for your support and prayers for us. We thank God for the way He provides for us. We thank Him for sending His Son to provide us with salvation and we thank Him for sending us our own son!

Please continue to pray for us, especially for Betsy and Aaron over these next three months and he continues to develop; then for all three of us after he has been born!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Sunday was the 2005 Vertical Marathon. The vertical marathon is held annually at the tallest hotel in Asia, Swissotel The Stamford. It is a race up 1,336 stairs to the top of the building 73 flights up! I had heard about it earlier in the year while touring with Betsy's Mom, then later with my parents and decided I was going to run it, so for the past few months I have been training. Most of that training has simply been to always take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator (when possible). I realize that to some of you that doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you visit friends that live on the 13th floor it means a little more!

On Sunday we got there at about 7:15 so I could register, then stretched and prepared for the climb. I started my climb at just after 8 am. The first ten flights weren't too bad, after that I had to really push to keep going at a good pace. At the 35th floor I took out my secret weapon, I had carried my rubik's cube with me to solve when I was working hard and wanted to take my mind off the pain. Next thing I knew I had solved it and was at about the 65th floor, it did it's job well! Upon finally reaching the top, I was treated to the wonderful view.

I was able to spend about 30 minutes enjoying the panorama and relaxing, then I began the trip back down. Of course the elevator doesn't go all the way to the roof, so I had to walk down about 4 flights worth of stairs to get to the elevator. Once at the bottom I met back up with Betsy and collected my certificate. I was quite pleased to see I had finished in under 15 minutes: 14:56! I look forward to doing it again next year, hopefully bettering my time and having a clearer day!